ALBUM REVIEW: Annie Gardiner – Bloodletting

By Resonate | November 13, 2021

WORDS BY: ANNA P

Annie Gardiner has marked new territory with her first solo album Bloodletting after the release of some mystifyingly tense singles that all act as cohesive pieces of what has proved to be a superb puzzle. The lyrics of the first track, Day After Day, tell of an untangling and unwinding, echoed by descending pizzicato strings. This sets up the unravelling mood for the whole album, without giving away its inner darkness.

The first single, Along The Forest Bed, features a punchy contrast between Annie’s soft, intimate vocals and powerful strings that rock the ground like an avalanche. Equally, the double bass in Bellyside is introduced like a surge through the whole body and is as satisfying as it is unnerving. However, it’s the string section that stands out on the record, taking the listener through the whole spectrum, including the avant-garde feel to the closing track Let Me Burn.

The album perfectly treads the line between consistent eerie imagery such as skeletons, devils, creepy forests and the crackle of a fire, and the depth of harder themes such as childbirth, motherhood and our relationship with death. Through the eight tracks you are taken on an immersive journey into an unpredictable and mysterious place, exemplified by the dark trees behind a masked-up Annie on the album cover. To fully succumb, this album is best heard on a midnight walk or on a long dark drive.

9/10

Available for purchase at: https://anniegardiner.bandcamp.com/album/bloodletting-2